Back to the Future

The David Douglas Express is a working light-rail system.

By Kathleen Cotton

A distinguished graduate returns to campus to find her old high school transformed and today's students newly energized about learning.

PORTLAND, Oregon—It has been 40 years since I first walked into that building. I was a bedazzled freshman, scarcely able to believe I had hit the big time and was finally in high school. And it was not only the big time, but the big place as well, for in those days my alma mater, David Douglas High School in southeast Portland, had approximately 3,000 students. I recall huddling with my friends from elementary school (no middle schools or junior highs back then) in an attempt to feel a little safer in this huge, new, scary place.

As David Douglas's freshman class, we 600-plus students spent our days in what was then called the "junior building." This early version of the ninth-grade house plan had us separated from the building where the upperclassmen went to school by a curving, quarter-mile-long breezeway. So although I did not yet attend school "up close and personal" with the rest of the student body, I was still in an environment much larger than I was used to. And my prize for surviving a year of that was to move over to the much-larger "senior building" and try to carve out a place for myself amidst more than 2,000 fellow students.

It was not easy to "be someone" in that environment, but at the time I had no point of reference and just accepted it as the way life was. It was not until 30 years after graduating that I came to reflect seriously on the negative impacts of attending such a huge high school. A longtime research analyst with the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, I was asked some five years ago to review and summarize the research about the effects of school size on students. That meant reading scores of studies about the way school size affects students' achievement, attitudes, and behavior.

That assignment dramatically changed the way I look at education and education reform. I learned that smaller schools—those with 500 or fewer students—have higher achievement, fewer discipline problems, more satisfied students (and school staff), more extracurricular participation, better attendance, and fewer dropouts than larger schools. I also learned that students from smaller high schools are just as well prepared for college as those from bigger schools. And that smaller schools don't necessarily have higher per-pupil costs than larger ones. It was intriguing to learn, too, that "schools-within-schools"—smaller learning communities within existing school buildings—could provide many of the same benefits as stand-alone small schools.

Which brings me "back to the future" at David Douglas. With approximately 2,100 students, it is still a very large school. It has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a New American High School (NAHS)—one of a select group of high schools around the country. This means that school personnel have restructured the curriculum to make it more relevant to the world outside of school and therefore more engaging to students. Their approach has focused successfully on raising students' academic achievement and preparing them for lifelong learning.

The strategies common to the New American High Schools are as follows:

All students are expected to master the same rigorous academic material

All the core activities focus on student learning and achievement

The curricula are challenging and relevant, and cover material in depth

Schools create small, personalized, and safe learning environments

Staff development and planning emphasize student learning and achievement

Periods of instruction are longer and more flexible

Technology is integrated into the classroom to provide high-quality instruction

Students learn about careers and college opportunities through real-life experiences

Students get extra support from adults

Schools use new forms of assessment

Strong partnerships are forged with middle schools and colleges

Schools form active alliances with parents, employers, community members, and policymakers

That list did not sound like the David Douglas I knew, and I became curious to find out what the staff had done to make such admirable goals a reality.

A Closer Look
Arriving at the school in late September, I noted that its two main buildings, though still connected by the breezeway, are now also joined by a train track. Puzzled, I made a mental note to ask about it.

David Douglas's current principal, John Harrington, is a friendly, soft-spoken man with an understated but unmistakable air of authority. Harrington has been principal of David Douglas since 1991 and is obviously proud of the positive changes he has helped to bring about. He is much more interested in talking about plans for the future, however. Vicki Lukich, also a David Douglas graduate, coordinates school improvement activities in general and the school's Certificates of Initial and Advanced Mastery programs in particular.

Harrington and Lukich explained that the school's current instructional program dates to the early days of Oregon's Educational Act for the Twenty-First Century, enacted in 1991. This legislation stipulated that, in order to graduate from high school, every student would be required to pass core academic coursework and state assessments, as well as amassing work samples of sufficient quality to earn a Certificate of Initial Mastery (CIM). Ideally, the student would complete this work by the end of 10th grade, and then spend his or her last two high school years pursuing one of six broad career pathways leading to a Certificate of Advanced Mastery (CAM).

The proficiency-based CIM and CAM certificates were designed to add value to the traditional high school diploma. David Douglas had become a pilot site for the development of the CAM and received an initial grant of $96,000 from the state shortly after the legislation passed. In addition, the Oregon Business Council, representing 43 of the largest businesses in the state, selected David Douglas as a partner site in 1993, and since then has played a significant role.

While still on the books today, Oregon's requirement that schools graduate only those who have earned at least the CIM have been relaxed, because too many students are failing to meet the standard.

Harrington is not surprised by that outcome. "You can't talk about raising standards," he insists, "without providing a safety net."

Instead of slackening its graduation requirements, however, David Douglas has become more demanding. Its students do even more coursework than the state CIM calls for. Students must pass all CIM courses with a grade of "C" or above. Starting last year, students are truly not allowed to graduate until they have earned the CIM.

Each David Douglas CIM candidate must also conduct two student-led conferences. They present completed work samples documenting their accomplishments to an audience that includes the student's parent(s), if available (otherwise a teacher), and the student's mentor from the high school. By the time students present their second, end-of-sophomore-year conference, says Lukich, they are "old hands" and have no trouble filling the allotted 45 minutes. Last year saw a remarkable 95 percent parent turnout for the student-led conferences.

Once students have completed the CIM, they tackle the Certificate of Advanced Mastery. David Douglas calls this intensive, project-based phase of their education Project STARS—Students Taking Authentic Routes to Success. The original legislation specified six broad career areas from which students would be able to choose in pursuing their CAM: Industrial and Engineering Systems, Social and Human Services, Natural Resources, Business and Management, Arts and Communications, and Health Sciences. To these, David Douglas staff have added a seventh—Hospitality, Tourism, and Recreation.

Asking a question about the variety of CAM projects led me, in a roundabout way, to learn more about that mysterious train track.

Aboard the DDX
Walking down the breezeway connecting the school's buildings on a cold day some years back (east Multnomah County gets some ferocious winds), teacher Mark Haner was uncomfortable. He thought about how much more uncomfortable the school's physically challenged people must be, as they made their way slowly from building to building. And it struck him that developing some sort of motorized conveyance between the buildings might be a good project for his students in the Industrial and Engineering (I&E) Systems CAM.

Haner had his students brainstorm and research ideas (such as enclosing the breezeway and installing an escalator like those in airports) for feasibility and cost. Ultimately, through a democratic selection process, the light-rail system idea prevailed. The project involved work in mechanical engineering (the train itself), structural engineering (the terminal building), and civil engineering (the track). As he told me about the project, Haner emphasized that more than half the work in the I&E Systems CAM focuses on the development of communications skills.

All light-rail project activities were carried out by students working in teams within each of the specialty areas. One team, for example, took apart two old school buses "rivet by rivet," to create a vehicle with two front ends for back-and-forth travel along the track.

Last spring, four years since its inception, seniors in the I&E Systems CAM orchestrated the grand opening of the David Douglas Express. Haner showed me a nicely made video on the light-rail project, prepared by a girl in the Arts and Communications CAM. He also shared the current issues of Building Futures: The Construction Industry Journal for Students, which showcases the light-rail project. It is a point of pride for Haner that, with the exception of one student who stepped on a nail and required a tetanus shot, the long-term, complex, and demanding project was injury-free.

Haner took me out to the terminal building, where we boarded the fire-engine red conveyance with DDX, for David Douglas Express, on its side. Haner drove the train out of the terminal, and students who were moving between classes began to gather around, exhibiting personal styles ranging from clean-cut, to '70s-retro, to multiple piercings and "liberty spikes" (hair styled with Jello to stick out from the head in spikes). I could hear the students squabbling good-naturedly about the superiority of their different CAMs, displaying the esprit de corps that comes with engagement in such focused teams: "Our CAM is best because we get to be outdoors a lot." "Well, yeah, but we get to use computers more." "Maybe so, but we get to work with food!"

A senior student named Nick settled into the train's comfortable interior. He had worked on the computer design of the train's gears and motor, as well as the hands-on tasks of dismantling the buses and constructing the train. Self-possessed and thoughtful, Nick spoke enthusiastically about the DDX project and about his aspiration to work in digital animation and Web design. He has worked on the school's Web site, and reads "everything I can get my hands on about Web design and servers." When I remarked that he ought to be able to get a good job with the skills he is developing, he replied, "I'm not even worried about the money; I'm pretty much following my dream."

I thought of the classroom-bound, out-of-context business courses I took at David Douglas in the 1960s. I was definitely not following my dream. Coming from the days of making jumpers in home ec to wear to the mother-daughter tea while the boys made pipe stands and towel racks in wood shop, I envied the students their hands-on experiences with genuinely engaging projects.

Exploring the Stars
For David Douglas students, career exploration begins as soon as they enter high school. Ninth- and 10th-graders take courses that focus on personal finance and career exploration activities. As part of these PACE courses, students take career and interest inventory tests and conduct research into broad career areas or "constellations," such as Human and Social Services or Industrial and Engineering (I&E) Systems. Because eighth-graders in the district have already mapped out a tentative high school coursework plan while still in middle school, they expect and are ready to pursue these activities.

The Oregon Business Council helps open doors for PACE I classes to tour businesses and learn about various kinds of jobs. PACE II students go on focused job shadowing experiences where they interview employees and learn what education and training are needed for each job.

(Hearing this, I search my memory and my yearbook for indications that we were even aware of ourselves as people who might someday have careers. We had home economics, typing, and shorthand classes for girls, of course, and wood or metal shop for boys—especially the boys who smoked and were always getting sent to the vice principal's office. And a few courses such as bookkeeping, that were not so rigidly gender specific. But we had no real sense of how these connected with the world outside school, and there was nothing about the way they were taught that helped us to find out.)

Participation in CAM was originally elective, but now all David Douglas students are required to develop an individualized education and transition plan, complete a minimum of six credits in specific CAM coursework, participate in a work-based experience related to their CAM area, prepare a CAM portfolio reflecting high academic and workplace readiness standards, and participate in personal enrichment courses and activities. Each CAM program is flexible enough to match the needs and interests of students, regardless of their postsecondary plans.

Activities integrate rigorous academic learning and hands-on experience in a variety of settings, such as these:

Students in the Natural Resources CAM grow foodstuffs, which are then used by the Hospitality, Tourism, and Recreation CAM students who operate The Kilt, an onsite restaurant.
Students in the Industrial and Engineering Systems CAM built the battery-powered DDX light-rail system, and the Natural Resources CAM students are currently developing a solar- and wind-powered battery that will power the train and generate additional electricity to be used elsewhere in the school.
Natural Resources CAM students are developing a putting green that will be maintained in an environmentally friendly fashion, without toxic chemicals.
The school's onsite businesses, such as The Kilt, the Douglas Depot store, the Project Invest insurance office, and the Double D Daycare center, are all operated by—or with help from—students from the Business and Management CAM.
Social and Human Services CAM students work and learn at the school's day-care facility, which serves the needs of students who are parents.

Casting a Safety Net
I was beginning to see why the New American High Schools program had recognized David Douglas. The dozen strategies that guide the program have become a reality on this campus. It's a school that expects academic mastery on the part of all students (Strategy 1), uses portfolios as new forms of assessment (Strategy 10), and involves its students in learning about careers and college opportunities through real-life experiences (Strategy 8). But I was still curious about that "safety net" Harrington had mentioned.

The safety net refers to a couple of things. One is that every David Douglas ninth- and 10th-grader has a mentor who assists him or her in tracking progress toward the CIM. Each administrator and teacher serves as mentor to approximately 10 students, half in ninth grade and half in 10th. A student stays with the same mentor for both years, establishing a relationship that communicates caring and support as well as information.

If students fail to meet CIM requirements, they have several options. Depending on the student and the nature of the need, they can retake classes, receive tutoring, attend summer school, or participate in special credit retrieval classes.

Bob Osburn coordinates the program for students who have not completed their CIM by the end of 10th grade. He makes sure that students understand what they need to do to meet CIM requirements: Take additional coursework? Complete additional tasks for their portfolios? Whatever the need, Osburn meets with CIM-deficient seniors and juniors at least once per quarter to guide and support them through their remaining requirements.

The vast majority of students do earn their CIM by the end of their sophomore year. And what about the others who, according to Osburn, include 100 seniors and 190 juniors this year? Good results here, too: last year all but 13 seniors finished their CIM. A few of the 13 did not graduate. A few transferred to a different area high school where less rigorous standards would allow them to graduate. Five are back at David Douglas this year as fifth-year seniors.

I asked if there is any stigma associated with being a late finisher of the CIM. "Kids realize how important our CIM is," Osburn said, "and they're really pulling for the kids who have to work harder to get it."

Relationship-Building Time
Visiting campus again a week later, I listened as Vicki Lukich facilitated a training activity for a group of new teachers who were about to meet their freshman and sophomore mentees for the first time and hold their first 50-minute mentoring class of the year. She spoke of their role in tracking students' progress through their CIM requirements. "You will become important figures in the lives of your mentees," she said. Noting that the positive relationships they form will help keep the students engaged and motivated, she said, "So don't let them go early; this is relationship-building time."

"Kids here know that their CIM is more rigorous and valuable than what is done at other schools," said Dottie Miller, 10th-grade English teacher. "And they are so much more focused when they leave high school—they have beginning career plans, they know where they're going."

In both Miller's and Lukich's mentoring classes, the teachers recorded students' CIM tasks and had them write down the dates of mentoring classes for the rest of the year. Then freshmen asked questions, and sophomores dispensed practical advice: "Plan ahead." "Don't procrastinate." "When you fall behind, it can be hard to catch up." "Don't try to get away with just seeing the movie if the book is assigned." But also: "Make friends everywhere. You'll need friends, so join sports or drama or other activities."

Yes, I thought, friends are always desirable, and in an environment like this, they are also important buffers against the threat of anonymity.

Good Days Ahead
During visits to my old high school, Harrington, Lukich, and other staff members were in agitated suspense about the fate of the grant application they had submitted to the Department of Education's Smaller Learning Communities Initiative. Selected on the basis of surveys completed by students, the activities in the grant proposal include: expansion of the mentoring program to include juniors and seniors, parents and adult mentors; leadership development activities for older students to build skills for mentoring; increased communications skills activities for seniors; developing an electronic tracking system for students' CIM activities; and several others. Nearly all proposed activities—totaling just under $500,000—involve expanding the personal attention and support provided to students in this large and growing suburban school.

In a follow-up conversation in October, Lukich excitedly told me that they had received the grant. As the funds are released over the next three years, they will be able to move forward with their ideas for making David Douglas's admirable program even better for kids.

Hearing this good news, I thought about the knowledge, directedness, and creativity of the David Douglas students of today. I smiled, remembering their wide-eyed stares and expressions of amazement when I told them I had been a David Douglas freshman in 1960. You might think that such feedback would leave me feeling really old. But thinking of their energy and enthusiasm and readiness to revitalize their world, I find myself feeling strangely young and hopeful.

Respond to this article